Cheap Clothing – Is it really that cheap

Cheap Clothing – Is it really that cheap

I read a great article the other day in the Huffington Post, “Why you need to stop buying cheap clothes”. It outlined exactly what I believe in- buying that $8 teeshirt from an inexpensive chain store may seem like a no-brainer, but the environmental and social costs attached to it are far higher. We need to start making better choices!

Lets be honest, who doesn’t like a great deal? But that cheap garment, probably made in a factory with poor labor conditions, using sub-par fabrics and dyed with chemical-laden colors will not last very long. And when you trash it, it will only add to the 10 million tons of clothing being dumped every year by Americans alone! As a population, we must be dumping atleast twice that; twenty million tons!!! Its just that as consumers we are often completely unaware of these many unspoken costs.

The solution is of course to gradually move to more sustainable fashion. It’s a movement that has been building for years and has finally begun to gain traction!

Apparel made of better quality natural fabrics, constructed in factories with good social compliance and care are much more likely to be more durable. To be fair, this applies across the board- and is not restricted to only apparel. We need to begin building sustainable lifestyles, be it with food, living, transport or fashion.

At Mi Dulce An’ya, we of course take this all very seriously. We focus on using only fairly traded, certified organic cotton and the best conditions possible for our small team of workers. We don’t churn out thousands of pieces of any garment, we make limited collections of thoughtful pieces that are made to last.

Many of my friends laugh and call “Organic cotton” a gimmicky word. That’s partly true because of the abuse and bestialization of the word organic by all and sundry! But the actual principles are very important- we need to stop using GM seeds, stop using harsh and harmful chemicals and rejuvenate our soil. In return, the fabrics are purer,finer and softer.

Our planet is the actual legacy we will leave for our future generations.